On a side table a giant replica of the winning galette filled with almond frangipane could be bought by weight.

I was assured the smaller individual galettes (10€ for 2 persons) were exactly the same as the winner.

Just then happy chef, Jocelyn Lohézic sailed in and assured me as well.

He was pleased to pose with his enormous trophy.

Then he went back to work serving early morning customers their croissants and jambon-beurre.

It wasn't just a stroke of luck Lohézic won. His galette won in 2011. And his croissants and baguette have taken honors too. My little galette came with a crown (his and hers reversible) and a tiny porcelain feve of Monsieur Endormi - a kids character famous for sleeping all the time.

*If you want a look at the almond frangipane inside please look on Facebook. This is the BEST galette I've tasted this year. Absolutement OUI!

I found out the history of the Galettes.Signifies the Three Kings arrival. The Galettes are sliced and shared with friends and the one who receives the little prize, sometimes a bean, gets to wear the crown. Mostly created in January. I was in New Orleans once when they had the same type of thing.

Ladee has a great point…is the Mardi Gras cake related? The ingredients are totally different, but there is a prize inside, and the person who gets it has to provide next year's cake.I have found that Julia Child's pithiviers recipe is indeed a king cake, but why she called it that I could not ascertain. I've made her recipe ( a million steps but all very simple) and it is super scrumptious! Does the trophy travel like the Stanley Cup or does the chef get to keep it on display forever?

A Pithivier (Pithiviers in French) is a round, enclosed pie usually made by baking two disks of puff pastry, with filling stuffed in between. It has the appearance of a hump and is traditionally decorated with spiral lines drawn from the top outwards with the point of a knife, and scalloping the edge.

The filling is always placed as a lump in the middle of the bottom dough layer, rather than spread on it, because it would then liquefy and leak during baking. The pie is traditionally finished with a distinct shine to the top of the crust, by egg-washing beforehand, or by caramelising a dusting of confectioner's sugar at the end of baking, or both. Whilst the filling of the Pithivier is often a sweet frangipane of almond paste, (optionally combined with fruit such as cherry or plum), savoury pies with a meat or cheese filling can also be labelled as a Pithivier.

It is commonly assumed that the dish originates from the town of Pithiviers, France.

Thanks, Carol, for getting up early for the rest of us! In Mérida in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico, they line up Roscas de Reyes for blocks in the street to sell them on Dia de Los Reyes. Quite the sight! (http://www.sinembargo.mx/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/rosca.jpg)

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♥carol gillott♥

Paris, Ile de France, France

I moved to Paris 2 years ago. I should have done it sooner but that's how the macaron crumbles. Living on the Ile Saint Louis next to the Seine after the 19eme is 'la cerise sur la gâteau'. It doesn't get any better. I've painted watercolors for Bocuse, Champagne Mumm, Guerlain, Frederick Cassel, The Russian Tearoom and the Maharana of Udaipur.
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